May 2014 – The Mississauga Marathon

“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” said intrepid Nicole M. as she muses over her Mississauga Marathon experience that raised $3705 for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada. Well, we think she did pretty darn great, despite facing wind, hills, the ever-present threat of soiling herself, and a stretch goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon by getting a time under 3:40.

In her own words, at the last few km of the Marathon:

“My legs were honestly toast at this point. I was taking mini-30s walking breaks now, full on stealing the cookie right in front of Peter. I was almost begging him, “Just 30 seconds.” And I would watch my watch diligently and then go. The problem was, we were also walking through water stations and my walks were ill-timed. I’d walk and then 30-45s later we’d be at a station. “Look,” said Peter, “I’m not having the best day either.” Then the wind blasted us and we kinda laughed together at it all. Ain’t no one was looking at watches any longer.

Not all was lost – you still have to fake it for the photogs and the fans:

35-39k were a blur. I kept thinking one of two things:

Me legs hurt SO BAD.

Jennifer gets up every day.

What the heck is a little pain? What the heck is a little wind? What is this compared to what anyone who has lost a child has to go through?

JENNIFER GETS UP EVERY DAMN DAY!!!

Oh, but my legs hurt soooooooooooo badly. Around 39.6k, I gasped, “30 seconds, Peter. Just short.” And finally, he grabbed that bag of cookies away, “NO. NO! There is a water station at 40k. GET THERE.” “You’re right. You’re right.”

JENNIFER GETS UP EVERY DAMN DAY!!!

Blur, blur, blur. My legs hurt so badly. I don’t care about anything anymore except for the end. We saw some DailyMile friends at 39k and that was awesome. Then, there’s Pranada jumping like a mad-woman with a tutu. And I know we are in the home stretch and my legs hurt and I just want another f**** cookie and there is no way because I’m on a god-damned diet now. At least until I can stop my Garmin.

And then there’s Sam and Irina. I shout out, “This wind f**** blows!” and they jump in. Sam slaps me hard on the as**and tells me to speed up. I cry, “I have nothing! My legs hurt so much.” And then I don’t know what, but they are gone? We are running the last 800 meters now. I know this because a man tells us, “800 meters to go.” We can see the fencing set up at the turn and we make it and start the straightaway to the end.

photo from Elaine

There is Phil and Elaine and Phil jumps in, “Let’s go a**-kicker, let’s go!!!” I’m crying, I’m laughing. My LEGS HURT SO MUCH. But I won’t stop running. All of a sudden, Phil’s gone and I tell Peter, “We’re holding hands over the line. I don’t care about anything else.” “Yep,” says Peter. Let’s get this done.”

We couldn’t be more proud of Nicole and her phenomenal achievement. For it is only the strongest people that can achieve so much, even when we hurt so bad.